Strategic planning might sound a bit over the top if you’re a tiny business.  But how about if we put it another way. Do you want to get your business to where you want it to be? Of course you do. Yet many small business owners overlook strategic planning. Here we demystify strategy and give you some hints, tips and useful links.

What is strategy, anyway?

Strategy is basically a bit of a fancy word for taking a look at the long term bigger picture, and simply boils down to:

• where do you want to get to?

• what do you need to do in order to get there?

Don’t think strategy doesn’t apply to you because you’re small. Every business, from global corporations to the local coffee cart, needs to be able to decide what actions and decisions are needed to achieve their goals.

Why do I need one?

Your strategy doesn’t have to be long-winded but having one will bring several advantages to your business:

1. Better planning - identifies key steps to take to reach your goals

2. Identifies strengths and weaknesses – highlights areas to improve and exploit

3. Makes you more efficient - plan ahead to avoid costly mistakes

4. Gives you more control - make sure you’re on track to achieving your goals

5. Boosts morale – everyone knows their role and feels part of the ultimate objective

We know it can be difficult to put it all down in writing if you’ve not created one before, so here are a few things to help you get started.

Turning a blank piece of paper into a strategy

Getting a good business strategy together involves taking a step back and thinking about the business as a whole. Here are some key components:

1. Vision and objectives

This may feel like jargon dreamt up in executive offices but put simply the vision is the picture in your head of where you see your business at some point in the future. And the objectives are more quantifiable goals like sales or number of customers.

With a vision you can then create a plan for what needs to be done, how, by whom and when.

2. Core values

These are your principles. The way you do business. It can decide the things you don’t do, as much as the things that you do. Examples could be: diversity, fairness or teamwork.

You may think, ‘why do I need this as long as the business keeps selling?’. But in the long term, having defined core values keeps everyone pulling in the same direction as a team, creates a good team feeling, and benefits the hiring process by attracting employees who are the right fit for your organisation.

3. SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis is a technique often used to assess a business by splitting into 4 parts – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Write down all the things that fall within these categories. You can open this up to employees, or even ask suppliers and customers.